THE MYSTERY OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH

The
doctrine of The Virgin Birth is the second of two doctrines
which has been increasingly undermined by many who profess
Christianity. There is good reason..This doctrine, like that of TheResurrection, points to the divinity and humanity of Christ.
By it we know that Christ is both God and man, having two distinct
natures in the one person. Both of them show God's active initiation
of, and participation in, man's redemption. Satan would do his best
to make us believe otherwise.

Now,
it is not conjecture, but a matter of fact that these doctrines have
come under continuous attack over the centuries. So why the need to
raise the alarm now? It
is because the attacks on these doctrines are coming from within the
ranks of the church, from professing believers, at an alarming rate.The church is facing a great
apostasy.

The
ignorance that abounds in a majority of 'Christians' today is
appalling. I was at a birthday party when I overheard a conversation
amongst some young adults. The topic had casually drifted to
Christmas. One of them posed the question as to what Jesus' family
name must have been. “Well if he's called 'Jesus Christ' then
his family name must be Christ!”, said another rather
nonchalantly. The rest shrugged their shoulders, as if it really
didn't matter who Christ was, and the conversation drifted to less
'boring' topics. Mind you, these are 'regular Christians' from a
mainline Christian denomination that I'm talking about. Is it any
wonder why such 'Christians' are easily turned away by false teachers
- 'like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind'!

When
we talk of the virgin birth,what we are really referring to is
'virgin conception'. The two terms are used synonymously. Mary
conceived
supernaturally, but
gave birthnaturally. Essentially, the
doctrine affirms that Jesus' conception in the womb of Mary was notthe result of anysexual relationship whatever. I
emphasize the word 'any' to refute some false theories that Mary was
somehow impregnated by God or else she could not have become
pregnant. Neither was she impregnated by any man in order to conceive
Jesus. Mary was a virgin at the time of her conception. She remained
a virgin until after Jesus was born. The scriptures clearly indicate
that Joseph did not have sexual intercourse with her until after
Jesus ' birth (Matt.1:25).

Many
attempts have been made to come to terms with how
this conception was possible.
As a result of this intellectual probing, many other questions arose
involving his humanity, his sinlessness and his divinity, which it is
not my purpose to discuss in this paper.

I
believe there are two major reasons why the virgin birth
cannot be dismissed as essential to Christian belief-
and in fact to salvation itself !

Firstly,it is stated categorically in
the New Testament. By
this I mean (1) unconditionally (2) absolutely (3) explicitly (4)
directly and (5) in plain speaking terms.There
are two places where the virgin birth is explicitly stated –
Matthew 1:18-25and Luke
1:26-38. These
two accounts are sufficient to convince us that the virgin birth is a
fact. Importantly, neither of the accounts is presented as an
hypothesis but as simple factual statements. As with all of God's
supernatural acts, no explanation is given as to howhe
accomplished it. On our part,we
must believe it because the Bible tells us that it happened. To
refuse to believe it is to repudiate the authority of the Bible.

The
Christian accepts many concepts which are beyond his understanding,
things which only God knows and does in his omniscience,
omnipotenceand
omnipresence.
These concepts continue to remain an enigma to the human mind because
they are outside the realm of scientific explanation. As we know,
Science seeks to explain the unknown by reference to the known. By
definition it (1) depends on deductions from self
evident truths(such
as in mathematics) and (2) seeks to explain material phenomena based
mainly on observation,
experiment, and induction (as in chemistry and physics for example).

In
relation to the first, science refuses to accept the self-evident
truth aboutGod
as
revealed in His word. Yet, this refusal amounts to a denial of its
legitimacyaccording
tothe
definition of whatconstitutes
pure
science! And
in relation to the second, science continues in its futile attempts
to reduce the supernaturalto
the natural.
Both God and his works must be 'proved' in a test tube. This is why
science cannot come to terms with the mysteries and miracles of the
bible. In order to grasp these mysteries the human mind must go
beyond science and be on a par with God, possessing His omniscience.
But this cannot be, because man is a limited creature and God is the
all powerful Creator. For all his aspirations, man will never become
God! It follows then that the
human must remain content with accepting the truth of Scripture, not
because he fully understands it, but simply because God said it.We
call this unconditional acceptance faith.
It
operates in a supernatural dimension and is both a gift from God, and
an enabling by His Holy Spirit. Science cannot give us this faith
because it only deals with natural
things.
Faith
in the things of God does not come from understanding; on the
contrary, understanding comes from faith.The
great Chapter 11 in Hebrews tells us of people of God who exercised
this sort of faith. And so should we, if we are to count ourselves
amongst believers!

Secondly,the virgin birth is God 's
unique way to put His redemptive plan into action.According
to the Oxford dictionary the word unique
means
'unmatched, un-equalled, having no like or equal or parallel'. I can
find no better word to describe God's methodof
incarnation. It is upon the fact of the virgin birth that the entire
biblical doctrine of Christ's person and work hangs. Put simply, if
Jesus Christ is not virgin born, he is not sinless, and if he is not
sinless, then he himself needs a Saviour. If he himself needs
salvation, then he cannot possibly be our Saviour, and the entire
redemptive plan falls worthless to the ground. It follows then that
we remain dead in our sins and our faith in him is futile! It is easy
to understand now why Satan works incessantly to belie the virgin
birth.

Let
me elaborate on this a little. Man was created sinless, but he sinned
and came under the penalty of death (Gen. 2:16-17). He thus needed
someone to redeem him from death. But none of Adam's race could
provide this because all who came from him would be born in sin and
would need redemption themselves. Yet, if man was to be redeemed then
man must die for man. Only God could redeem man, but by His own law
(sinless man must redeem sinful man), he could not redeem man as God.
He had to become man. However, if he was to become man, it must be
apart
from sin otherwise
it would violate His own essential nature of sinlessness.Further,
he himself would be a sinner in his humanity and therefore unable to
save other humans. This is a 'catch 22' situation – a real
dilemma. But not for God! His way of overcoming this apparent dilemma
is seen in the miracle of the Virgin Birth. Through the virgin
conception, God clothed himself with human flesh, and was born of the
virgin Mary into the human race. Adam was created
as
a man but Christ 'took flesh' and became man. How he did this is a
mystery. It belongs in the supernatural realm along with all of God's
mighty works. It
is by faith we accept that the God who was able to create Adam in the
flesh was likewise able 'to take flesh' on himself and become man,
entering the human race as a sinless man.

We
call this act of God 'the incarnation'. By this act he took sinless
human nature and united it with His sinless divine nature. He is God
'in the flesh'. In Christ “dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). By this he showed himself fully
God and
fully
man.
Understandable? NO! Scientifically provable? NO! Acceptable? YES,
through faith. On what basis? BECAUSE GOD IS TRUTH AND CANNOT LIE.
There ends any further dispute!

Now,
the only time that anyone could have problems with the doctrine of
the virgin birth is if they don't believe God to be whom he claims to
be! After
all of the evidence He has made available, their real problem is not
a lack of understanding but of unbelief,
which is a fatal state as scripture points out in numerous places.
It's as simple as that!